Scoop that poop: Filth police to keep Madrid tidy

MADRID, Spain – Spain's capital city is full of many wonderful things, but nobody could accuse its inhabitants of being overly tidy. Broken bottles litter the streets, cigarette butts protrude from the sand at playgrounds, and Sunday mornings dawn with a nose-curling bouquet of revelers' urine and unscooped piles deposited by man's best friend. But if a new plan by the city council works, Madrilenos will relieve themselves against the wall at their own peril. Soon, a 300-strong squad of "garbage police" will be patrolling the streets, doling out fines high enough to sober you up in a hurry. Thinking of not picking up after your dog? That'll cost you €1,500 ($1,875). Got a penchant for graffiti? The fine has gone up tenfold, to €3,000 for a first-time offender — and double that for anyone caught twice. Regular litterers risk penalties of up to €750, as do those who fail to recycle. "The goal is to defend the rights of the majority, who pay a lot of money in order to live in a city that is clean and safe," said Ana Botella, a conservative Madrid town councilor who spearheaded the get-tough plan, and who's also the wife of Spain's former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar. Many residents, long since tired of watching their step when they walk and holding their noses during the steamy hot summers, say it's about time. Parents of young children are perhaps the plan's strongest proponents. Many playgrounds in Madrid's center are in public squares ringed with pubs that overflow into the streets in the evenings. By morning, all manner of refuse can be found amid the swings and jungle gyms. "I think it's a good idea," said one young mother, Maria Lamamie De Clairac, as she played with her infant daughter at a playground in the Plaza Dos de Mayo in central Madrid. Looking around the plaza, Lamamie de Clairac lamented that it was not particularly child-friendly. "It's dirty — dirty and full of drunks," she said, gesturing to a group of men holding cans of beer in the early afternoon. Carmen Orellana Olivares, a nanny, said she thought it was high time the city dealt with the aroma left over from weekend partying. "It smells of urine here," she said, playing with a 2-year-old boy on a seesaw. "The problem isn't so much the garbage, but the smells from the night before." The bill was approved by Madrid's town council Friday, and the new fines have already gone into effect. The garbage squad will be set up in coming weeks, using people already employed by the city's environment agency, who will be deputized to issue fines. But some people say Botella and the council have gone too far. They point to a penalty of up to €750 for anybody caught rifling through public garbage bins, which they say needlessly targets the poor just as Spain's economy is collapsing. "In times of crisis like those we live in, more and more people must search through the garbage just to survive," said Francisco Cano, who represents a Madrid neighborhood association that opposes the plan. "What will happen to these people if they have to pay such a fine? What will they be forced to do to eat? Steal?" Cano acknowledged that large parts of Madrid have become "one big bar," but said his group favored education over punishment. Other penalties also seem a bit stiff — like €750 for feeding bread crumbs to the ducks in the park. And don't even think about spitting: That's another €750 no-no. Opponents also complain the bill would allow authorities to sift through people's waste to make sure they are recycling properly. "The Madrid government is going to spy on people, going through their garbage," a Socialist party councilman, Pedro Santin, was quoted as saying in Madrid's Publico newspaper. "It is disgraceful." Invasion of privacy or not, many residents say it's past time the government took tidiness more seriously. "We have to have a clean city," Lamamie De Clairac said. "All the streets here are full of dog poop." - AP